Hanging Around
by that's entertainment
Summary: James Potter is many things. Good looking, smart, a great quidditch player, and a great friend, surprisingly enough. Except Lily Evans doesn't see that. He was pretty concerned when she said she'd rather wake up dead than go out with him, actually.
1. Hanging Around

Well, hello. This is a first of mine on fanfiction.net, so… uh huh, I'm still getting into the swing of things.

But, alrighty then! This is an L/J fic, but I think we shall have a bit of Sirius's story in the beginning. But don't worry, Lily will come into it later (next chapter, probably), I assure you.

And… yeah. I don't really have much else to say. *shrugs*

**Disclaimer: **You people have probably read enough of these to come to the conclusion that us mere fanfiction-ists own nothing, as that belongs to good ol' JKR. Except for the plot and a handful of new characters, of course.

But anyway. On with the show!

I've been hanging around  
Just in case you fall in love with me  
I know you have doubts   
I hear when you shout  
'Cos I understand you see

I was concerned when you said  
You'd rather wake up dead  
Than spend a day with me  
I know that's not you  
I know and it's true  
They don't understand you like I do

~ Song belongs to a Mr Robbie Williams (or 'Our Rob', as my friends have come to hear off me)

_Hanging Around_

James Potter lay sprawled across the couch in his Living Room, smiling dreamily to himself as he pictured the face of a beautiful red head, who had been plaguing his mind for a good few years, by now.

His father rolled his eyes and smirked when he saw the look on his son's face, making himself more comfortable in the armchair next to the Christmas tree, that he was sat in.

"Well, he's thinking about her again," he announced loudly, making James snap out of his dream world and grin.

James nodded. "Yeah," he admitted, not at all embarrassed. 

His parents knew full well of his obsession with a certain Miss Lily Evans, and had been on the receiving end of James's rambles about her every school holiday since their son's fourth year at Hogwarts. And since James was at that moment on Christmas vacation from his sixth year at school, Lily was by now a regular conversation topic.

"Son, I hate to tell you this, but…" his father trailed off, uneasily. "I think you need to give it a break. You've been after her for… ptsh… _how_ many years now? And she obviously doesn't like you in _that_ way-"

"She doesn't like me at all," James replied, with an amused smile.

"Exactly. I'm telling you, you should get more interested in the other girls-"

James rolled his eyes. He'd heard this quite a lot before. "Eh, she'll come around," he shrugged, standing up and running a hand through his hair. "After all, no one can resist the Potter charm, right? Yeah, I'll have her going out with me by the end of this year. I just need a plan, or something," he remarked, cockily.

His dad, knowing he couldn't say anything that would make James listen to him, simply sighed.

"Alright. Whatever you say, James."

James, again, grinned, falling backwards onto the couch once more. "I'll have to try and point her out to you drop me off at Kings Cross, again. You've never actually seen her, have you?"

"No," his dad said, quite boredly now, as he flicked open a newspaper.

"She's absolutely gorgeous," James insisted, a far off look coming into his eyes again. "She's got this dark red hair, right-"

"I know, you've told me a hundred times before-"

"And these _eyes_… She's got the most amazing eyes," he went on. Then he grinned. "And her _body_-!"

He was cut off by his mum, who walked into the room to find her wand, but tutted at what her son was saying. 

"James," she admonished, with a quick roll of her eyes. "Seriously, can you talk about _nothing_ except this Lily girl?" she asked, hiding a smile. She raised her eyebrows slightly. "What about Sirius, hmm? You haven't even mentioned him, ever since you got home."

His dad suddenly frowned with thought. "That's right," he agreed. "He's not been over once either, from what I can remember. He's usually here everyday! What's happened?"

For some reason, James's face had suddenly darkened at the mention of Sirius. 

"Ah, don't say you two have fallen out," Mrs Potter sighed. "You've been friends for years… Like brothers, you two."

"Just… don't talk about him," James muttered, standing abruptly and making his way towards the stairs, so he could go to his room. 

"Why not?"

"Because he's an idiotic fool," James replied, scowling, as he walked up the stairs.

Mrs Potter looked quite upset that James was mad at Sirius. She'd always liked Sirius Black, ever since he was little. Even now, she still felt overwhelming sympathy towards the boy. Now more than ever, actually. His family just seemed to get worse as the years went by.

Which is why James's dad looked slightly alarmed. "You don't think… Sirius wouldn't have gone over to the… dark side? No. Would he?"

Mrs Potter glared at her husband. "No, he would _not_."

~*~*~

James stormed up to his bedroom, where – after kicking his way through a pile of junk on the floor – he threw himself onto his bed. 

Merlin. It must have been about a month since he had stopped talked to Sirius.

He glanced out of the window at the moon, for confirmation. Yep. It would be full any day now, which would signal a month since Sirius had lured Snape into Shrieking Shack, nearly killing the Slytherin, and exposing Remus's werewolf secret at the same time.

James set his jaw, as he thought about it. Sure, Sirius was his best friend, and he missed talking to him… But he couldn't believe he'd been so _stupid._ James wouldn't forget the look on Remus's face when he transformed back into his normal self after the full moon. He just looked… _betrayed_. And with good reason. After all, his biggest enemy now knew his biggest secret.

And sure, Remus had since forgiven Sirius, accepting that he'd been provoked and just acted rashly. 

But James – being the stubborn being that he was – just somehow couldn't forgive his friend so easily.

He scowled for a few minutes as he thought of Sirius, mainly because he missed having him around.

However, a smile finally graced his face when his eye caught a photograph on his desk. Sure, it had been taken without her permission – without her even _knowing_, actually… But damn, that Lily Evans was gorgeous, he thought, as he stared at the photo, where she giggled happily with her friends, eyes sparkling and hair bouncing as she laughed, totally oblivious to the camera.

Grinning, he stood up and tucked the picture into his pocket.

~*~*~

Later that night, James wondered through his house, absolutely bored to tears. 

Yes, Christmas was only a few days away, but he had absolutely _nothing_ to do. Remus's family had taken him off on holiday, somewhere… Peter had buggered off to his grandparent's, and refused to visit James over the holidays… And Sirius was, well… yeah.

Plus, James noted with a glare out of the window, the dismal weather ruled out Quidditch completely.

"I'm bored," he whined to his mother, as he sauntered into the kitchen.

Mrs Potter rolled her eyes. "Help me with dinner, then," she suggested.

James's disgusted facial expression told everyone what he thought of _that_ idea.

"Nah," he replied with a yawn, as he pulled something out of his pocket and smoothed it out on the table top, along with the photograph of Evans.

He placed the picture on the table carelessly, then focused his attention on the other thing.

 After he murmured a few words that his mother couldn't hear, and tapping the old parchment with his wand (after turning 17 just a few days ago, James was officially of age and allowed to do magic outside school. Which he indeed teased his friends about, who were all still 16) James was looking down at the Marauders Map.

His eyes grazed over it for a few moments, noticing that very few people stayed over at Hogwarts for Christmas. He glared when he saw a small dot labelled "Severus Snape", who was currently sat alone in the Slytherin Common Room.

He hated Snape more than ever, now. With him and Sirius not talking, there was no Marauders, really. And that wasn't _right_.

"Jamie, can you get the door?" his mother interrupted his thoughts, making James raise his eyes off the parchment to look at her.

"Eh?" 

"Get the _door._"

"Oh. Yeah, okay," James shrugged, standing up. He quickly grabbed the photo and the Marauders Map in his right hand, as he ran the other through his hair. He hadn't even heard the hammering on the door before then, which was odd now he realised, as it was pretty damn loud.

"I'm coming, for Merlin's sake!" he yelled with frustration, as the pounding on the door continued. He rolled his eyes and messed about with the key in the lock, before finally flinging the door open.

And blinked when he saw who was there.

 James stared in surprise at Sirius Black, who was stood on the porch, absolutely drenched to the skin as a result of the pouring rain. He was stood a few steps back from the door, cast in the shadows, with a backpack slung across his shoulder.

James gaped at the sheer shock of seeing him. For one, he couldn't once remember a time when Sirius had arrived using the front door. He always just flooed right over, without warning.

Plus... James and Sirius hadn't spoken since the last full moon.

"Hey," Sirius said hoarsely, when James didn't say anything.

James frowned slightly as Sirius stepped out of the shadows, which had been hiding him from view. He… His face was…

Sirius sniffed, and continued quietly. "Listen Prongs, I... I know you're still pissed at me about the Snape thing, but-"

"Jesus Sirius, what happened to you?" James gasped, staring at his friend's battered and bruised face in horror.

Sirius simply continued talking, ignoring James' question. "And I totally understand if you just tell me to get lost, if you don't even want to listen to me. But... but... I-I just don't know what to do," he finished lamely.

James stared open mouthed at Sirius for a few more seconds, before quickly frowning and motioning for Sirius to step inside the house.

He knew Sirius hadn't just been in a fight with a random person, as had happened a few times before. No, he looked way too upset for that.

It was in the bright light of the house that he could see just how badly Sirius was injured. "Padfoot, what the [I]hell[/I]-?"

"Sirius!" Mrs Potter exclaimed happily. "Oh, what a lovely sur-" She cut herself off by gasping quietly. Moving towards him quickly, she tilted Sirius's chin up to take a look at his face better. "Dear, what _happened_ to you?" she murmured.

Sirius gave her a tight smile. "Regulus was being his usual happy self…" he mumbled, and James shook his head at the mention of Sirius's younger brother.

His anger towards his friend seemed to be forgetten, for the moment.

James's mother sighed and shook her head. She was thankful James was only child, brothers seemed to fight like cat and dog. Sirius and Regulus did, anyway.

"And then my Dad came in…" Sirius went on, rubbing the back of his neck. "Sided with his '_better son_', of course…" Sirius didn't even look upset. Just thoughtful, and far off. "So I said something, I can't remember what, exactly… Something about being a Black doesn't mean you're royalty… And Regulus just flew at me." He raised his eyes to James and Mrs Potter, and gave them a sad smile. "Don't worry though, he came off worse."

James's mother just stared at him. "Your own brother did _that_?" she breathed, looking from Sirius's black eye, to his cut and swollen lip.

Sirius snorted. "Regulus? No. He might act the bad ass, but he's a right puny thing, really…" he trailed off, and shook his head. "Nah. See, when he saw _I_ was the one actually beating _Regulus_ up, my Dad came forward, and…" Sirius suddenly frowned and shuddered in remembrance.

James and his mum stared at Sirius in pure horror.

Sure, they knew the Black's had never really been… **loving** towards Sirius, but _physical violence?_ That was new.

"Your-your Dad did-he did_ that to you_-? Oh sweetie, you poor thing…" Mrs Potter murmured, her eyes wide, as she pulled Sirius into a hug, then led him through to the Living Room, where she tried to heal his face with some simple charms.

James however, remained in the hallway, revulsion still evident on his face. 

He really hadn't realised how bad it was at home, for Sirius. For God's sake, of course he hadn't. If he _had_, he would have done all he could to stop it, naturally.

He walked slowly into the Living Room, hearing Sirius talking to his mother.

"-So I ran away," Sirius concluded, nodding his head in the direction of his backpack, which had been tossed onto the floor.

There was a short silence. Then James filled it.

"He can stay here though, can't he?" he questioned his mum.

Mrs Potter nodded immediately. "Well of course he can," she replied. "The poor love. I can't _believe_ that did that to you, Sirius…"

Sirius shrugged, a dull look in his eyes, which James had noticed when he saw him on the porch. "It's not so bad," he mumbled. "Just a few punches, you know…"

"Don't talk like that," Mrs Potter scolded gently. "It's an awful, disgusting thing to do, and you know it."

Sirius gave her a small smile again. "Thanks for letting me stay here, by the way."

"Don't be stupid, you know you're always welcome here," she said, rolling her eyes as she stood up. "You practically live here _anyway_…" she grinned, making her way out of the room.

Sirius laughed slightly. Then he turned to James. "Erm… yeah. Ta, Prongs."

James shrugged, and gave him a tight smile. "No problem. So… are you okay? Does it hurt?"

"Nah," Sirius said carelessly. "Well, what _did_ hurt, you're mum fixed anyway…"

"That's good," James nodded. "Erm… so… Are you hungry?"

Sirius simply shook his head, and the two trailed off into uncomfortable silence, not knowing what to say.

They both sat there for a few minutes, neither talking. Sirius clasped his hands together, and looked anywhere but James, whilst James stuffed his hands in his pockets and stared at the floor, gently rocking backwards and forwards on his feet.

After all, they'd not talked for a month.

"So… um…" James cleared his throat, at the same time trying to clear the tension.

"Do you hate me?" Sirius asked quietly.

James looked at him in surprise. "Huh?"

"It's just-"

James sighed and shook his head, frowning. "I don't hate you," he murmured. "Sure, I was angry at you, but-"

"I don't want you to feel_ sorry_ for me, Prongs. Okay? Just because of…" he trailed off and sighed. "Of what happened tonight, doesn't mean that what I did to Snape is forgotten."

"No, I know," James agreed. "But… hey, Remus forgave you, didn't he? So there's no reason why I shouldn't."

"It's 'cause you're a stubborn sod," Sirius replied, smirking slightly.

James grinned. "Yeah, you're right."

And the two fell back into silence, both knowing that everything was okay between them.

Until finally, Sirius interrupted it.

"So are you going to tell me why you've been clutching a picture of Evans in your hand as if you'd die without it, ever since I got here?"

~*~*~

*****wrinkles nose*** **That didn't turn out how I wanted it to. I didn't like it. Sigh.

But… I can't be bothered re-writing. So… yeah. Sorry. Hehe.

I know, I know. No L/J, as of yet.

But it'll come. LoL. 

We-ell… Reviews would be nice. And _constructive_ criticism, if you please.

Thanks for reading this far, anywho.

~Lauren


	2. Trying to be a Better Man

He-ey! Well. It's been… awhile, hasn't it? grins Ha. LoL, I'm glad you liked it! Here's another chapter. Hopefully the next one won't take 11 months… LoL. Thanks for all the reviews! Song, once again, belongs to mister Robbie Williams. Yeeeeah, still love him. Here you go!

As my soul heals the shame  
I will grow through this pain  
Lord I'm doing all I can  
To be a better man

Once you've found that lover  
You're homeward bound  
Love is all around  
Love is all around

I know some have fallen  
On stony ground  
But Love is all around…

X 

James grinned, glancing at the picture in his hands. "'Cause this year… I'm _so_ going to get her to go out with me."

"Yeah? And you plan on doing that by…?" Sirius smirked.

"Minor detail," James answered, waving a hand dismissively. "I just need a plan, that's all."

**x**

The next day found the two boys still in James's room. They were in silence, but comfortably so. Sirius was flicking through a Potions book, and James was tossing a Snitch up and down, in thoughtful silence.

"You know what I have to do?" James suddenly said to Sirius, who was lay across his friend's bed, for once doing homework.

"Get the hell away from me whilst I'm actually concentrating on schoolwork?" Sirius replied smoothly, not looking up from his Potions book.

"Padfoot; this is serious."

"Prongs; so is this."

"Sirius!" James said warningly.

"Oi, don't get all aggressive," Sirius laughed, tossing his book aside. "Go on, then. What's so important?"

"Right. So I came up with a way to get Lily to like me, right-" He was cut off when Sirius groaned and placed his head in his hands.

"What?" James asked, indignantly.

"_James…_ She _doesn't_ like you!" he growled. "Okay? Get over her!"

"No!"

"Oh, for Christ's sake…"

"So, anyway, I decided I really need to find something to sort my bloody hair out. 'Cause never mind her, it annoys _me_ to no end, so…"

Sirius shook his head. "I don't think it's your looks that she has a problem with, mate."

James, who had been rambling on, stopped and looked at him happily. "What? You think she thinks I'm cute?"

"Did I _say_ that?"

"Yes."

"_No!_ No, I didn't. I _said_ I think it's your personality she doesn't like… Not your stupid hair."

James frowned deeply.

Sirius sighed, and rolled his eyes. "Why do you even care anyway, Prongs? It's only Evans… She's not that special, you know. Sure, she's a bit of a looker, but there are better looking girls…" He suddenly sat up straight and snapped his fingers, grinning. "Like that Cherise in Ravenclaw! I mean, bloody _hell…_"

"No, no it isn't about that, anymore…" James muttered, shaking his head impatiently.

"How do you mean?"

"I mean… Of _course_ she's gorgeous. But Merlin Sirius, do you really think I'd be after her for so long just because of the way she looks? Even I'm not _that_ shallow. No, she really interests me… She's got this… this _passion_. Y'know? This temper. But she's also so sweet, when she doesn't know I'm there. And so smart, and stuff…"

He trailed off thoughtfully, and sighed. He sat staring into space for a few moments, before he blinked and looked up at his best friend.

Who was looking absolutely revolted.

"Too soppy?" James said.

"Totally. Evans is hot. Stick to that reason."

"Will do."

"So… You were saying something about your hair?"

"Yeah," James murmured, looking at himself critically in the mirror. He wrinkled his nose and ran his hand over his face. "Do I look really pasty to you? I could do with a tan."

"It's December, you moron. _Everyone_ looks pale."

James eyed Sirius enviously. "You don't," he replied.

"Well, I'm special."

"Yeah, yeah. Well! I need a tan as well."

"Aww, James you big girl. You're getting a makeover to impress your crush. I could've sworn boys and girls are meant to do that the other way around."

**x**

The rest of the Christmas holidays passed with James trying to improve his appearance, much to the amusement of his father and Sirius.

Christmas Day also brought a letter to Sirius from his parents, but no one except the young Black ever found out what was written in that. All anyone else could guess was that it wasn't good, as when Sirius had read it, his face fell into a scowl and the letter had been hurled into the fire.

Everyone thought it best not to ask.

So, James and Sirius continued on with their latest mission… 'Make James Better Looking'.

True, the only reason Sirius was involved was for a laugh, but James let him help anyway.

The first thing James had done was gone out and got a hair cut. This had… Not helped at all. In Sirius's words, James's hair was a lost cause.

The tanning thing had also been acted upon. After consulting his mother – who, of course, had laughed – James found out there wasn't any spells he could perform, so only had a few options in that area. The first, fake tan, he refused flat out. He decided the whole 'make over' thing was girly enough, and putting fake tan on every few fays was too much.

This left him with 'sun beds'. Apparently, these were dangerous or something… He'd tuned out during this part of his mother's lecture. He tended to do that whenever she didn't really want him to do something.

So! He'd gone ahead and hired a sun bed for a week.

The first time he went on it, it had been quite relaxing.

But for every time after that, it had completely bored him to tears. And it was boiling hot. And… sweaty. And he could hardly move.

But still. Hopefully, it would be worth it.

Sirius had also decided that James was "too skinny" and that he wanted to get him some muscles. This had _not _impressed his best friend, especially as he seriously doubted he could make any drastic changes to his body in the time before he went back to school.

Still, he tried. And by trying, I mean he absolutely killed himself in the gym his parents had had installed in the mansion years ago.

The things people do for love, eh?

**x**

"So?" James demanded to Remus impatiently, the minute he met his friend.

It was January 4th, and the Hogwarts students were all congregating on Platform 9 and ¾, waiting to go back to school.

Remus, having just seen his friends for the first time in two weeks, raised his eyebrows slightly in return to his dark haired friends greeting. "Erm… so, what?"

"Do I look any different?" James asked exasperatedly.

"Oh! Er…" Remus frowned, looking James over. And couldn't find a thing any different. Well, except his skin tone. "You look slightly orange," he gave helpfully.

James glared at him.

"But… in… a good way?" Remus tried, trying to correct his mistake.

James rolled his eyes, and turned his head to see Sirius looking towards a small group of people with pure hatred written across his face. The cuts and bruises from the fight with his family had since faded, but it was obvious that the memory hadn't.

"Something wrong, Pads?" Remus asked, throwing his luggage onto a trolley.

"Nothing. Absolutely nothing," Sirius replied, tearing his eyes from his parents and brother, and also hurled his own luggage onto a trolley. "Ready to get on the train?"

"Yeah," James nodded, his eyes lingering on the Black family, who had noticed there other son, and were hurriedly walking away to avoid him.

"Good. Let's just go then, Peter can just meet us in our compartment," Sirius said, making his way towards the Hogwarts Express.

X 

The next morning, James raised his eyes from the cereal he was eating, watching as she breezed into the Great Hall for breakfast with her friends.

Sirius smirked as he watched his friend's expression soften as he caught sight of Lily Evans for the first time since they had finished for the Christmas holidays.

Her dark red hair flipping out behind her as she walked… Her eyes bright with amusement, as she laughed with the girl next to her…

"Ugh, I _want_ her," James whined, never taking his eyes off the girl.

In his opinion, she was gorgeous. Some may have said she's good-looking, or cute, or fit… But they're all wrong.

Lily was beyond beautiful.

The only slight problem was that… She hated him. Loathed him, actually. He wasn't even sure why. All he ever tried to do was get her to like him.

Sure, he might have done some stupid stuff to get her attention, but he was only trying to get her to _notice_ him…

"Think I should go speak to her?"

"You're going to anyway, aren't you?" Remus replied flatly, raising an eyebrow.

"Yeah," James admitted with a quick nod of his head.

"May as well get your rejection over with, then."

James threw a sneer in Remus's direction, then cleared his throat loudly and ran a hand through his hair as he stood.

As he began to walk towards the red headed girl of his affections, Sirius turned to Remus.

"Think he's ever going to get her to like him?"

"Not a chance in hell."

X 

"Hey, Evans," James greeted her, trying to sound casual, as he dropped into an empty seat on her right.

Lily exchanged a look with one of her friends, then looked witheringly at the boy beside her.

"Potter," she greeted him, nodding her head slightly.

"So, um… Have a nice Christmas?" he asked, concentrating on making his voice sound more mature.

"Well, I was away from you for two weeks, so… Yes, thank you."

James blinked, but chose to ignore that comment.

Lily sighed heavily, and decided to be polite. "Did you?"

"Me? Oh… erm…" he cleared his throat, and ran a hang through his hair. "Yeah, it was good. Spent most of it… y'know… Working out, and stuff…"

Lily arched an eyebrow. "Working out?" she repeated, sounding unimpressed. "Over Christmas?"

"Yeah…" James answered uncertainly.

"So you were in a gym over your holidays, even though your parents hadn't seen you since September?" Again, she sounded very unimpressed.

"Oh! No, it's okay… The gym's in the second floor of my house," he explained.

"Ah," Lily said, wrinkling her nose slightly. "I _get_ it."

"Get… What?"

"That you're just trying to let us all know how rich you are, again."

"What? I didn't say-!"

"Yeah, yeah. Whatever, Potter. I'm trying to eat. See you around," she finished their conversation suddenly.

James frowned as he stood up, trying to wonder why every single conversation he had with Lily went wrong.

Then he turned back to her suddenly.

"So… Fancy going out sometime?" he chanced.

She didn't even turned to look at him, but continued eating her jam and toast.

"I'd rather wake up dead," she replied smoothly.

**X**

"Don't worry," Sirius consoled, as James repeated what Lily had said to them when he returned back to the table. "She's obviously losing it."

"How do you mean?"

"I _mean_… She should realise you can't 'wake up dead'. You either wake up, or you die. You can't do both. So like I said, she's losing it. Which is good news for you, mate! You never know, she might one day agree to go out with you."


End file.
